St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-28
SMART WILLIAM JOHNSON.
His Brain Work Added Ten Years
To- His Sentence

TO Ills sentence.
Minnedoka Qdahol Special y. Y. Sun.
Judge Hays. of this circuit, has just
sentenced to long terms i'll the peniten-
tiary three men who say they have had
the worst run of luck that ever overlook
anybody ON this earth before. They
were stage robbers and all-around des-
peradoeS, who finally attempted piece
of fine work and got caught at it. The
leader was Bill Johnson. His two as
SiStantS were Tom Lovett and Sam
Young. Johnson was sentenced to
twenty years i'll the penitentiary at
Boise City, and the others to eight years
each. After the sentence had been
passed johnson fell into Il meditative
mood, and in conversation with the Sun
correspondent he thus described his adj
ventures:
Il was lead into this game by the re-
Election that stage robbery was going
out of fashion. Lots of the boys hadn't
been making their salt. Stage after
stage had been held up without getting
a nickle, and it seemed as though all the
money i'll the country was i'll the hands
of the bankers, the railroad managers,
or the express companies. L used to
live down East, and L remembered that
down there, they had to bring some
brain work into play, and so thought
out an elaborate scheme. | got Lovett
and Young, and when | had explained
the thing to them they joined in mighty
quick. Now, what L want to be set
right on is this: My scheme was
right, but if anybody else ever played
in worse luck than did from the begin
ming to the end of this case, I'd like to
hear from him.
LAS soon as l had put I.ovett and
Young on guard down the road | fixed
up a money package, marked Il 's35, co.,
and after directing it to myself. i'll care
of the First National bank of Laramie,
Wyo.. | handed it to the agent of the
Pacific Express company at Albion, and
got his receipt for it. The express had
to go by stage from Albion to Mime
doka, where it caught the Oregon Short
Line train, and l had arranged to have
LoVett and Young hold up the coach
somewhere On the route. This they did
in great shape, as we all thought at the
time. They came out suddenly on the
driver, and made him throw up his
hands and the passengers get out. Then
| they seized the express box and made off
with it. L waited awhile. and then, on
receiving word from Laramie that my
| demand on the company for the
money, threatening suit in
the United States court if it was
not forthcoming Immediately. | gave
myself heap of style, but it did not last
| long. Before | got out Of the office they
| had me under arrest, and two days later
they brought in Loyett and Young.
Just about that time L began to wonder
what special weakness there was in my
scheme. l found out pretty quick.
The agent up at Albion had suspected
| that the package did not contain money,
| and he had examined it only to discover
that it was full of paper, but he sent it
just the same. Then it SO happened that
of the three passengers on the stage that
morning one was Judge Hays and an
other Was detective. They just let my
boys have all the fun they wanted with
them. At the same time it was all fixed
that when showed up with an indignant
demand for indemnificatiOn they would
clap me into Jail, and that is what they
did. The detective had been OH the
trail of Lovett and Young, and he
brought them i'll as soon as he wanted
them. They took the whole of us to
Blackfoot after while, and it was
there that we broke jail.
TO show you something about luck
y Il
want to say about this breaking Jail that
we hadn't gone more than three miles
from town before we stirred up party
Of about fifty ShoSh0ne Indians, wild as
colts, who took lis for horse thieves, and
| chased us over four or five counties, until
we finally circled around and took
refuge in their camp, where they kept
up such an internal racket that before
another day had passed every white man
for hundred miles was at hand. AS
soon as saw what devil of fix we had
| got into | tried to coax the redskins to
! let up, and once when ! thought they
! were willing to listen to reason | started
out in the open to talk with them, but
| they began firing. land before | could get
| back to cover they had me wounded ina
| couple of places. Young got q bullet, too.
| I'll bet hundred to one that no other
white man who ever broke Jail in this
! country ever had the luck to fall right
| into a tribe of SavageS who wanted to
fight, and wouldn't let up. Well, they
got us again, and then we had to nurse
our sores for a time.
II had begun to feel little down.
| hearted. but as yet had kept up bold
| front and had resolved to make big
fight i'll court, when at the very opening
| OF the proceedings the prosecuting at
toiiiNy Idit oii VIC tdDlt Tie lUe1ltlcal
| package that | had left with the agent
at Albion. There it was in my hand
writing, the '$s55, 600 looking as big as a
circus bill. When it was explained that
this package had not gone into the safe
at all. but was in the drivers pocket.
and that the envelope which Loyett and
Young had got and had burned I'D was
a spurious one, began to weaken. The
thing was getting little too deep for
me, and L found myself wishing that |
had kept out of schemes of every sort.
The evidence against me was tolerably
straight, but it was nothing in compar-
ison with what cthey had on the other
fellows. The detective who arrested
them was the chap who was on the
coach, and all he had to do was
to identify them, but the worst was to
follow. l didn't know until the Judge
began to talk that he was On the stage,
too. and then | saw that there was no
| chance. Judge Hays is fair man. no
| doubt, but don't expect man who has
been in a hold-up to lean very much
| toward the fellow who fixed the thing.
lie didn't, either. l just thought that
the best thing for me to do was to keep
my mouth shut. With the luck that [
was playing in l ight say something
| that would hang me, and so simply
| bowed my head and took the twenty
| years.
Il suppose nothing can save me now.
Ioa see, | got twelve years extra for my
brain work. If ] had kept in the line of
plain stage-robbing L would have been
free yet. When get out Idaho Will be
a state, no doubt, and there wont be
much of a chance then. If you eyer
hear of fellow who gets it in the neck
like have. I'll thank you if yon send
me paper telling about it. Pm the
rankest sucker this side of the National